“there will always be more”
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No matter how long we spend in any book of the Bible, there will always be more to see and to think about and discuss. After recently finishing our discussions of 2 Peter, here are a few topics we revisited briefly this week.
The Author’s Intent
One of the first comments as we reviewed Peter’s second letter noted the intention he stated clearly.
I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder. (2 Peter 1:12-13, emphasis added)
This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. (2 Peter 3:1, emphasis added).
Near both the beginning and the ending of his letter, Peter describes his purpose as “reminding” and “stirring up” his readers.
As we discussed, one of the limitations of our approach is losing sight of the overall message of the text we are studying. The benefit of taking a letter or a gospel or a prophet in small sections is the attention to detail. As Luther said of his Bible reading,
If the Bible were a large, mighty tree and all its words were little branches I have tapped at all the branches, eager to know what was there and what it had to offer.[1]
Our group tends to see the branches (and sometimes the leaves). However, the comment about the author’s intention was well taken. Keeping that intention in mind as a grid or filter is important to avoid misunderstanding the text. Of the several difficult or controversial passages we encountered in 2 Peter, more awareness of his “reminders” to “stir up” his audience may have helped clarify his meaning.
A practical suggestion was to focus a bit more on the broader text under study in our future discussions. For example, we can read more of a preceding section before starting the next passage.
Our God and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:1)
Another question focused on the first sentence in the letter. In the first few paragraphs Peter explicitly mentions the Father (1:17a), the Son (1:17b), and the Holy Spirit (1:21) – all three Persons of the Trinity. Is verse 1 another reference to God (the Father) and to Jesus, two of the three Persons?
To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:1b, emphasis added)
A substantial majority of English translations[2] follow exactly the ESV example quoted here, applying one description, “our” to both God and Savior and then providing the name Jesus Christ. It is reasonable to assume that the “our” combines both God and Savior into one noun, two descriptions of one Person.
A few translations seem to add to the ambiguity with the wording “the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (KJV) or “our God and Jesus Christ, the One Who saves” (NLV) or “of our God and of our Deliverer” (CJB). The agreement of most other translations gives weight to the interpretation that the text refers to Jesus Christ as “our God and Savior.” That dual description provides important evidence that Peter, along with the rest of the early church, recognized Jesus as divine.
Those English translations, like the ESV, accurately reflect the grammar of the original as seen in this interlinear version.
δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ.
righteousness of the God of us and of Savior Jesus Christ.[3]
One article “the” used with two nouns connected by “and”, as in “the God and Savior,” indicates that both “God” and “Savior” refer to the same person, Jesus Christ. This is a characteristic of Greek grammar that is “always valid” in the New Testament. [4]
That grammatical construction is used consistently in 2 Peter. For example, there is no question in these examples – both “Lord” and “Savior” refer to the same Person, sometimes named, sometimes not.
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- 2 Peter 1:11 the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
- 2 Peter 2:20 the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
- 2 Peter 3:2 the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles
- 2 Peter 3:18 grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
On the other hand, when Peter is referring to two different persons he correctly uses the form with the article on both nouns to distinguish them.
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- 2 Peter 1:2 the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord
(“the knowledge of the God and of Jesus the Lord of us”)
- 2 Peter 1:2 the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord
That grammatical rule demonstrates two important theological truths affirmed in Scripture, the deity of Christ and the separate persons of the Trinity.
A Lamp Shining in a Dark Place (2 Peter 1:19)
We also discussed some further clarification on a verse about lights.
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts… (2 Peter 1:19)
What is the significance of the lamp and of the morning star?
The point Peter is making is the sharp contrast between the extremes of two sources of light. A lamp in the first-century consisted of oil in a small bowl with a pinched spout for a wick.[5] As important as God’s written Word is for the believer, Peter uses the brilliance of the morning star to emphasize the coming of God’s Incarnate Word. Perhaps the morning star is the best comparison that he could use to communicate his experience of the Transfiguration of Jesus “on the holy mountain” (v. 18).
Another aspect of “the morning star” may be involved in Peter’s words. He pointed to his eyewitness experience on that mountain as confirmation of the future glorious appearance of the Messiah. The reference to the morning star could be a continuation of that emphasis.
The morning star (Venus) heralds the advent of dawn; a new age was about to dawn (cf. 2 Pet 1:11)[6]
The contrast with the “lamp” of the prophetic word is echoed elsewhere in the New Testament.
This is what Paul said in 1 Cor 13:8-10, ‘But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass way. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.’ Now the prophetic word (in Paul the reference is to the prophecies of contemporary prophets, while in 2 Peter it is to the OT) is a light in the darkness, but when the darkness disappears with the coming of the dawn, we will know even as we are known. Then the light of Christ will be in our hearts, and we will no longer need the Scriptures. One treasures a love letter while the beloved is absent, but once he or she is present, the letter is laid aside and exchanged or the personal contact.[7]
The study of Scripture is encouraging and stimulating and life-giving. Even the best we have experienced from God’s written Word is merely a lamp compared to the morning star of our eternity with His Incarnate Word!
They Will Exploit You with False Words (2 Peter 2:3, cf. 1:16, 1:20
The emphasis on the future morning star of Christ’s return does not diminish Peter’s emphasis on the present centrality of Scripture.
And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.
(2 Peter 2:2-3a)
The word usually “false” to describe the words used by the deceitful teachers deserves special attention. It is not the same adjective prefix used of the “false” prophets and “false” teachers (ψεῦδος, pseudos, “lie, falsehood, deception”).[8] Instead, Peter uses a word found only here in the New Testament, the source of the English word “plastic” (πλαστός, plastos, “made up, fabricated, false”).[9]
The deceit “secretly brought in” (v. 1) is not just false, it is fabricated, “made-up” ideas, reminiscent of the “cleverly devised myths” (1:16) Peter has already described. In other literature the word means “counterfeit”[10] or “invented”[11] or of a “forged contract.”[12] The warning is clear in the contrast between the divine authority of God’s word and the erratic and undependable ideas people form about God on their own.
Peter’s emphasis on Scripture is spread throughout his letter.
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- For we did not follow cleverly devised myths (1:16)
- no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation (1:20)
- they will exploit you with false words (2:3)
- you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles (3:2)
- [Paul’s letters] which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures (3:16)
Even claims to follow Scripture can be manipulated. “Personal interpretations” (1:20) and “twisting” (3:16) the “plastic words” (2:3) can torture language to force out whatever meaning is desired. That danger has persisted through the centuries. The American theologian J. Gresham Machen recognized the growing problem early in the twentieth century. “Plastic words” were used to give the appearance of orthodoxy.
It makes very little difference how much or how little of the creeds of the Church the Modernist preacher affirms, or how much or how little of the Biblical teaching from which the creeds are derived. He might affirm every jot and tittle of the Westminster Confession, for example, and yet be separated by a great gulf from the Reformed Faith. It is not that part is denied and the rest affirmed; but all is denied, because all is affirmed merely as useful or symbolic and not as true.[13]
…
This temper of mind is hostile to precise definitions. Indeed nothing makes a man more unpopular in the controversies of the present day than an insistence upon definition of terms. . . . Men discourse very eloquently today upon such subjects as God, religion, Christianity, atonement, redemption, faith; but are greatly incensed when they are asked to tell in simple language what they mean by these terms.[14]
Clear, accurate definitions are critical today to respond to the tendency for believers, churches and entire denominations to shift away from genuine Biblical truth in favor of accommodating popular culture. Peter’s warnings still guide us.
Better for Them Never to Have Known (2 Peter 2:21)
Another statement from Peter’s letter raised some questions in our group.
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. (2 Peter 2:20-21).
How in the world could it be better not to have heard the gospel?
Our conversation followed two explanations.
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- Someone suggested that “the hardest people to evangelize” are those who have heard the gospel and even exhibited a superficial response. They “tried it and it didn’t work,” it didn’t make their life go as smoothly as they wanted, or it resulted in some other disappointment. To hear and understand the Christian message and then to be dissatisfied by the result is an inoculation increasing resistance to any future consideration of the gospel. The “better” aspect of not to have heard is that undamaged openness to the message.
- The second suggestion offered was the increased accountability. More truth means more responsibility. Someone compared different degrees of reward and blessing for the saved with different degrees of punishment for those who knowingly reject Christ. In Dante’s depiction of hell, popes are in the eighth level, with only traitors such as Judas in the bottom ninth circle below.[15]
As another person commented, where there is life there is hope. Not having heard can preserve an innocence and a receptivity that should motivate us to share the gospel with them.
Waiting for and Hastening the Coming of the Day of God (2 Peter 3:12)
In our previous discussion we talked about Peter’s possible meaning about “hastening” the coming of the day of the Lord or “hurrying it along” (NLT). We had considered a Jewish tradition familiar at the time. There were those who believed that Messiah would come when the nation of Israel would keep the Law for one day.
Someone brought up another perspective that might apply. The character qualities that exemplify a Christian lifestyle (1:5-7) and are increasing (1:8) confirm God’s work in the believer’s calling and election (1:10), providing the entrance into the eternal kingdom (1:11). Living that lifestyle by God’s grace demonstrates the reality of God’s kingdom. Living that lifestyle together as God’s people provides a hint of what it will be like in the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells (3:13). Our actions don’t dictate God’s timing, but they can provide a preview of “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”
Lose Your Own Stability (2 Peter 3:17, cf. 2:14, 3:16)
Peter’s final warning in his letter once more cautions against the influence of those who distort Scriptural truth.
There are some things [in Paul’s letters] that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. (3:17, emphasis added)
In that warning Peter twice mentions the quality of “stability” (or its opposite, “unstable”). The same word for unstable (ἀστήρικτος, astēriktos)[16] is used earlier in this letter. In the middle section (our Chapter 2), Peter is denouncing the wide range of offenses committed by the false teachers.
They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! (2 Peter 2:14, emphasis added)
These are the only places the words are used in the New Testament. Peter describes a potential pattern or a cycle of deteriorating spiritual stability.
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- Like any predator, the false teachers target and entice the weak members of a group, the “unsteady/unstable souls” (2:14).
- Under that deceptive influence, those “ignorant and unstable” persons are the most likely to misinterpret and twist Scripture (3:16).
- The artificial attraction of the false teaching can have a powerful influence. Recall the words of Jesus about false prophets, “to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). Peter gives no suggestion of losing salvation, but losing stability appears to be a genuine possibility – losing one’s trust in God, losing one’s desire for holiness, losing the joy of anticipating the coming of the Lord, losing whatever gives stability to the life of a believer.
The strategy of the false teachers focused on instability and attempted to spread even more instability. Lack of stability is the environment for a repeating cycle. Peter’s concern was to build and maintain the stability of his “beloved” by giving them warning reminders beforehand (3:17a).
A key to our own stability in the faith is careful, accurate understanding of Scripture, especially in a group context to examine and test and clarify our interpretations. That stability guards against being “enticed” and “carried away.”
But Grow in the Grace and Knowledge
Finally, someone pointed out that after all his warnings and exhortations to believers, and his condemnation of the false teachers, Peter closes his letter on a wonderfully upbeat note.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)
In the face of external persecution, while confronting internal deception, his ultimate desire is that his readers (then and now) would grow in the experience of grace and the personal knowledge of the eternally glorious Lord.
[1] https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/martin-luther-lessons-from-his-life-and-labor#:~:text=He%20wrote%20in%201533
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/2%20Peter%201%3A1
[3] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/2_peter/1.htm#:~:text=δικαιοσύνῃ
[4] See Granville Sharp’s Rule,
H.E.Dana and Julius R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Toronto: The MacMillan Company, 1927), 147;
also, Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 720,ff.
[5] J. D. Douglas, Organizing Editor, “Lamp, Lampstand” in The New Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970), 708.
[6] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary – New Testament (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 728.
[7] Peter H. Davids, The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006), 210.
[8] https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/pseudos
[9] https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/plastos
[10] Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), 1412 (1466 in PDF).
[11] Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary (Oxford: University Press, 2002), 260.
[12] W. Bauer, F.W. Danker, W.F. Arndt, and F.W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 823.
[13] J. Gresham Machen, What is Faith? (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1991, orig. 1925), p. 34; quoted in
John Piper, “Contending for Facts for the Sake of Faith” in Contending For Our All (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2006), 134;
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/j-gresham-machens-response-to-modernism
[14] J. Gresham Machen, What is Faith? (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1991, orig. 1925), p. 13-14; quoted in John Piper, “Contending for Facts for the Sake of Faith” in Contending For Our All (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2006), 135;
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/j-gresham-machens-response-to-modernism
[15] Robert Hollander & Jean Hollander, Inferno (New York: Anchor Books, 2000), e.g. xix.52ff, p. 349.